Magical Robbie

THE more you listen to Robert Greenidge’s latest CD From The Heart the more you realise the magnitude of the man, the music and the production of the recording. From the beginning of the first song “If I Never See You Again,” something compels you to listen. Of course this song, like five others on the CD, was composed by Greenidge himself. The other songs he composed are “From The Heart,” “Rosie,” “Dark Horse,” and “Paradise Garden.” He teamed up with Ralph MacDonald, William Salter and William Eaton on “Love Me Up In The Morning,” a fantastic song featuring vocals by Nadira Shakoor.

On this album, Greenidge plays tenor, double tenor, double second and triple cello pans. His ability to “caress” the notes on these instruments has put him a notch above the rest when it comes to playing. Greenidge fits into an orchestra of musicians like Chris Parker (drums), Cliff Carter (keyboards), Will Lee (bass), Jeffrey Mirnov (guitar), Ralph MacDonald (percussions), Arturo Tappin (saxophone), Buddy Williams (drums), Rob Mounsey (strings) and Clinton Crawford (horns) and they all make magic. Other tracks on the CD are “Kiss Kiss Kiss,” “Just The Two Of Us,” “My Heart” and the immortal “Stardust.” Greenidge’s treatment of the latter will “blow your mind.”

The CD was recorded at Rosebud 2 Studio in Samford Connecticut, which is owned by Ralph MacDonald. Both Greenidge and MacDonald produced and arranged the CD with two tracks “Kiss Kiss Kiss,” arranged by Eaton, and “My Heart,” arranged by MacDonald Eaton Salter. It is quite clear that the finest of details were paid attention to in the production of the music, and it shows... listening to “Rosie” makes you wonder if Trinidad and Tobago and the world by extension was privy to the best music for the Panorama finals as Solo Pan Knights played Greenidge’s arrangement of “Rosie” and was left out of the finals.

From My Heart was launched by Greenidge back in December last year “Under The Trees” at Hotel Normandie. He played along with Ralph MacDonald and The New York All Stars and was well received by the audience. Since the launch, Robbie and MacDonald have added a vocal version of “Rosie” done by former Young King Roger George and is available on the new CD, but not on the original. Sales of this CD seem to be doing very well and Robbie is pleased and prays that all the music he produces for his country will come from the heart.